SHORT COMMUNICATION An Outbreak of Bovine Besnoitiosis in Beef Cattle Born in Central Italy E. Manuali 1 , E. Lepri 2 , S. Salamida 1 , N. D’Avino 1 , P. Mangili 1 , G. Vitellozzi 2 , V. Grelloni 1 and G. Filippini 1 1 Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche, Perugia, Italy 2 Universita ` degli Studi di Perugia, Perugia, Italy Bovine Besnoitiosis is a parasitic disease of cattle caused by Besnoitia besnoiti, a cyst-forming coccidian widely distributed in Africa (Bigalke, 1968), Asia (Peteshev et al., 1974) and Europe; particularly, besnoitiosis is described in several European countries as Portugal (Cortes et al., 2005), France (Alzieu et al., 2007), Germany (Mehlhorn et al., 2009; Rostaher et al., 2010), Spain (Ferna ´ndez- Garcı ´a et al., 2009) and Italy (Gollnick et al., 2010; Muti- nelli et al., 2011). Given these recent cases reported in Europe, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) recently classed Bovine Besnoitiosis as an emerging dis- ease, describing the geographic expansion of the disease from endemic regions to previously disease-free regions. In Italy bovine besnoitiosis was first reported in 1993 in clinically affected crossbred beef imported to Piedmont region (Northern Italy) from south-west France (Agosti et al., 1994), were the disease is endemic and present since the late 19th century (Besnoit and Robin, 1912). Recently (2009), the disease was diagnosed in a breeding bull born in Tuscany region (Central Italy; Gollnick et al., 2010) and in 2010, in an imported French crossbred beef living in a farm located in Emilia Romagna region (Northern Italy; Mutinelli et al., 2011). Since its emer- gence in non endemic European countries, we feel that it is important to report all diagnosed cases of bovine besnoitiosis in order to better understand the epidemio- logy of the disease in Europe. For this reason, we contri- bute to the definition of the diffusion of bovine besnoitiosis in Italy by reporting an outbreak of naturally occurring infection in three 15 to 18-month-old female beef cattle (two Limousine and one Chianina) born in Marche region (Central Italy). The animals were born in the farm, and no history of introduction of new animals was reported. Clinically, one of the affected cattle (case 1) was afebrile, in poor body conditions and reluctant to move while appetite was preserved. The other two animals were healthy. In all three animals the skin was markedly thickened and alopecic, especially in the head and neck, as well as in mammary, perianal and perivulvar sites. In the head the lesion were prominent on muzzle, nares, periocular skin and eyelids (Fig. 1). In these regions, the skin was severely thickened, alopecic and Keywords: besnoitiosis; cattle; Italy; emerging disease Correspondence: E. Manuali. Laboratory of Histopathology and Electron Microscopy, Istituto Zooprofilattico Sperimentale dell’Umbria e delle Marche, via G. Salvemini 1, 06126, Perugia, Italy. Tel.: +39 075 343 227; Fax: +39 075 343 289; E-mail: e.manuali@izsum.it Received for publication February 10, 2011 doi:10.1111/j.1865-1682.2011.01220.x Summary An outbreak of bovine besnoitiosis in three female, 15–18 months old beef cattle in central Italy is here described. All the animals were born in central Italy without any recent contact with imported animals. The animals were in poor body conditions and showed symptoms and clinical signs consistent with chronic besnoitiosis. The diagnosis was confirmed by histopathologic examina- tions of skin biopsies and whole body at necropsy, showing typical 50–100 l cysts engulfing superficial dermis in skin and lamina propria in mucosae; lesions were confined to skin and respiratory mucosae, and cysts were not seen in any other tissue. Bovine besnoitiosis is rapidly spreading among European countries and in our case the affected animals were born in the farm and not recent admission was referred, so it is likely to consider this as an autoctone outbreak of the disease in Italy. This case, taken together with other recently reported ones, suggest to consider Italy among potentially endemic areas for bovine besnoitiosis. Transboundary and Emerging Diseases 464 ª 2011 Blackwell Verlag GmbH • Transboundary and Emerging Diseases. 58 (2011) 464–467